It is almost March and that means that the CinemAsia Film Festival will start soon. Earlier it was announced that CinemAsia will officially be opened with the European premiere of Mrs. Noisy by director Chihiro Amano. But the film festival will offer more Japanese films during the 2020 edition that will take place from 4 to 8 of March.
Mrs. Noisy
Film from 2019 by director Chihiro Amano and the openings film for CinemAsia 2020. After winning a grand literature award, author Maki (Yukiko Shinohara) struggles to follow up with something new. She has just moved into a new apartment with her husband and their little daughter, where she’s confronted with a nasty case of writer’s block. As if that wasn’t enough, she’s also constantly distracted by her inconveniently timed noisy neighbour (Yoko Ootaka). What started as a small quarrel ends in an unstoppable viral social media sensation that changes the lives of the two women forever. Through creative staging, great performances by the lead actresses and an interesting narrative structure, director Chihiro Amano shows that there is always two sides of the story. After its premiere at the 32nd Tokyo International Film Festival, the film will be screened in Japanese cinema from coming May.
Screenings: Wednesday 4 March (sold out), Friday 6 March | Tickets
Japanese title: ミセス・ノイズィ (Mrs. Noisy)
Tezuka’s Barbara
Film from 2019 by Makoto Tezuka, also known as Macoto Tezka and is a film and anime director. Based on a classic 1974 adult manga by Japanese manga artist Osamu Tezuka, the father of the director. Tezuka’s Babara tells a bizarre love story between a famous novelist Yosuke Mikuro (former SMAP-member Goro Inagaki) and Barbara (Fumi Nikaido), an odd, sexually perverted woman who he picks up from the street. As Mikuro develops a maniacal obsession over her, he also begins to suffer from some mysterious hallucinations.
For this film, there was a collaboration with jazz musician Ichiko Hashimoto and Kar-wai Wong’s cinematographer Christopher Doyle (Chungking Express, 1994, In the Mood for Love, 2000). The film was made for the 90th anniversary of the birth of Osamu Tezuka.
Screenings: Friday 6 March, Saturday 7 March (both late-night screenings) | Tickets
Japanese title: ばるぼら (Barbara)
Complicity
Film from 2018 by director Kei Chikaura. A feature-length debut depicting how an illegal immigrant tries to find his place and identity in Japanese society.
Chen Liang (Yulai Lu) has left his native Henan, where he lived with his ill mother and elderly grandmother. Wanting to pursue a new life away from his responsibilities and family pressures to have a respectable career, he decides to move to Japan. However, settling down in a new place isn’t as easy as he thought. The film premiered at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in September 2018.
Screenings: Sunday 8 March | Tickets
Japanese title: コンプリシティ (Complicity)
The full programme of the 13th edition of the CinemAsia Film Festival can be found on the official website of the film festival. The film festival offers new Asian cinema from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Indonesia, India, Bhutan, Thailand and The Philippines. Big hits such as Exit (South Korea) and Gundala (Indonesia) can be seen, but also work of upcoming and young directors from Asia, like Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom (Bhutan), Moonlit Winter (South Korea) and Dolly Kitty and Those Twinkling Stars (India). In addition to the films, there is a multifaceted side programme – including a Food Market for culinary discoveries and a special LGBTQ+ programme.
Source: CinemAsia
